BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 30: China reacted to ASEAN’s expected collaboration with the United States by announcing its own initiative, proposing regular East Asian ministerial meetings to discuss counter-terrorism efforts.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the Beijing plan would not conflict with ASEAN’s pact with Washington.

“Anti-terrorism is something everyone is concerned about. It’s not a problem any one country can resolve on its own,” he said.

China is worried that a prospective counter-terrorism pact between the United States and ASEAN may give Washington too much clout in Southeast Asia, where Beijing has been extensively cultivating ties, analysts said.

While the draft ASEAN-Washington pact makes no provision for US troop deployment in the region, ASEAN officials said that remained a choice for individual countries.

Analysts said Beijing will be watching closely how wide-reaching the ASEAN-US pact will be when implemented and whether it will boost US influence in the region.

“If it’s just anti-terrorism, China won’t be too worried, but if fighting terrorism will lead to a stepping up of military exchanges between the United States and Southeast Asian countries, then China would be worried,” said Zhu Feng, the director of a security programme at Beijing University’s School of International Studies.

“China doesn’t want to see the United States using the fight against terrorism to set up military bases in Southeast Asia and have troops stationed there.”

Such action would be interpreted by Beijing as a threat and as partly targeted at China.

A key part of Chinese foreign policy is guided by its desire to eventually reunify with Taiwan, and China sees the United States as standing in the way of its efforts.

In recent years, China has actively tried to cultivate better relations with its Southeast Asian neighbours — mainly by trying to appease their fears that China could be a military threat in the region and trying to forge closer economic ties.

It has played an important role in pushing for the establishment of a code of conduct in the South China Seas, a busy shipping path which sits atop rich natural resources.

China was also the initiator of a plan to set up a China-ASEAN free trade area, which will create a market of nearly two billion consumers, the largest in the world. Beijing and ASEAN countries in November agreed to set up the free trade zone within 10 years.

China’s Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Tuesday denied China had any worries over the US-ASEAN anti-terrorism accord.

“I’m very much supportive of it because fighting terrorism has become a global activity and needs the increased and expanded international cooperation,” he said.

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